


The Dalekanium Box

by Starora



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 05:17:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5321858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starora/pseuds/Starora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When The Doctor and Clara land on a spaceship that should not exist, they discover a secret operation that took place during the Last Great Time War. Along the way, they make an unlikely friend: an experiment with the ability to change the universe as we know it.</p><p>This is one of my older stories, I have uploaded it here for safekeeping...  But please enjoy it anyway!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dalekanium Box

The blue box whirred rapidly as it whizzed through space at an alarming speed. It moved so fast that it did not appear to move to the human eye, or the Dalek eyestalk for that matter, and seemed to fade and reappear elsewhere. It could, presumably, only be seen to move by a species that could view billions of images every millisecond - like the Kryptoclops of the planet Photricol-Rhylexx or a similar species that may (or may not) have made contact with the humans blue box was not the average sort of thing that you would see hurtling through space. It was not even common on the planet that you would expect to see them on. It was a tall, dirty wooden 1963 police phone box that a person of the human species would be able to stand inside. Only one person. It was only a small box was not actually from the planet Earth, where these police boxes were to be expected, the box originated on the planet Gallifrey - home of the Timelords - and it was the unlikely disguise of a TT casule (Type 40, Mark 3), a sort of time machine, that was known to many as The TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

As you may have guessed, the TARDIS had passengers, two of them to be exact, one was a girl with brown hair, wide eyes and a grin on her face. She gripped the central console of the machine with all her might as it tossed and turned through the dark void of space. Cables swayed above her head. She ducked and stumbled and held on to the metallic interior. She still looked ecstatic even though the box was shaking other person in the box was elder, much elder, with grey hair and a stern expression. He did not seem to realise that the ground beneath him was moving, or, at least, he had grown used to it in his many years of travel. The man looked human enough, and was mistaken for one so often theat he had given up correcting people, was the owner of The TARDIS, a Timelord of Gallifrey that was adored on many planets, and feared on those that did not adore him. He was The Doctor, a rogue of the dead Timelord humans know of The Doctor, some remember him lovingly, whilst others strain themselves to forget. There is even one out there that can't remember, yet she admires him more than most. She was a companion of The Doctor once, as was the smiling brunette of this story, who suddenly noticed a small blinking cyan spot on one of the screens that protruded from the console of The TARDIS.

'Doctor,' she said, seemingly panicked, 'should that light be appearing on the screen?'  
'Of course not, Clara.' The Doctor replied, 'we are in the middle of the Melochite Belt, in the Timnasphere! The TARDIS here is the only ship I know of that can brave the harsh chronoblasts. Any other ship would be sent bouncing through an infinity of warping through time.'  
'Thought so,' Clara muttered, 'so why is there another ship showing up on the monitor?'  
'I was just wondering that myself... Are you sure that it is not a stray meteor? Of course not. If it was, it would have been sucked into the next millenium by now. That rules out space debris... Leaving only one solution: the Melochite Belt is broken!'  
'And how does one break a belt of fierce time-altering cosmic winds?'  
'I have no idea... Maybe we should find out.'  
'Let's do that.' Clara concluded as The Doctor began to set the course for the short journey to the presumably broken section of the belt, hoping to land on whatever it was that they had seen on the console.

The TARDIS jolted violently as it lurched toward its destination, bypassing miles of murky green space to catch up with the mysterious object, landing with a grinding Doctor looked at Clara, and his companion looked back at him, both were curious about their location. It was a familiar feeling, the intrigue of landing on some unexplored land, or an alien ship, to find something completely incredible was the best feeling in the world (or entire universe, for that matter) and a reasonable wait gave a discovery much needed suspense. What would it be? They were both thinking. An emerald green asteroid inhabited be elves? A satellite that had long been forgotten and had accidentally made its way to the Melochite Belt via a wormhole? A dwarf planet made entirely from curtains? The possibilities were carefully opened one of the doors of The TARDIS, not daring to look outside. She turned her focus to The Doctor, who was still standing by the console, holding her gaze for a good fourteen seconds before giving in to temptation and peeking through the door.'It's a spaceship!' She exclaimed, noticing the sleek black interior, which she immediately stepped into. The Doctor, looking puzzled, hesitated briefly, wondering what a spaceship was doing in such a hazardous region of the Timnasphere, before clearing his mind and hopping towards her, brushing his hand on the chromium railing as he made his exit.'Well so it is!' Gasped The Doctor, glancing all around the ship, astonished by the idea that a ship other than his own could survive in the current conditions. 'Let's find out who runs this place!'Leaving The TARDIS in a wide deserted corridor, The Doctor rushed off through the nearest circular archway, pursued by an excited Clara, to find out the secrets of the ship. They did not expect to be faced with the series of adventures that followed...

The walls were jet black and curved smoothly, with occasional dull pale blue vents at equal intervals, and the floor was glossy with flecks of silver flowing through it, mirroring the view from the small portholes that appeared infrequently above. Running along the centre of the floor was a strip of pure white light, edged with a thin outline of blue. Clara watched as The Doctor traced the line with his eyes, going from a crouched position to his full height. He took three steps forward, then three more. He paused for a moment, sniffing the air, then ducked through an archway and around a corner. Clara followed, quickly catching up to The Doctor, and then realised that they were faced with a locked appeared exactly like any of the other archways on the ship, except for the two metallic semicircles that were closed together inside it. Clara knew exactly what would come next and she smiled as The Doctor drew the iconic tool from inside his would have been easy to mistake the object for a large pen, for it was about the size of one, yet it was as far from being a pen as possible. It was a thick stick of bronze metal with a black grip on its handle and a bright, round, greenish-blue light protuding from the front end of it. Despite its small size, it was one of the most powerful tools to be found in the galaxy, with uses including scanning lifeforms, fusing metal, and - most importantly in this situation - unlocking doors. It was a sonic screwdriver.

The Doctor traced the edge of the archway with his sonic screwdriver, listening to it buzz gently as it worked. Eventually, after the door had been completely circled, the two semi-circles began to gently move apart, making an opening large enough for both Clara and himself to get through. Once they were on the other side, they walked for a few minutes before Clara stopped, tilting her head up slightly.

'Did you hear that?' Clara asked, her voice no more than a whisper.  
'Hear what?' The Doctor whispered in return, straining to figure out what Clara meant. 'I don't hear anything.'  
'There it is again, did you hear it that time?'

Both Clara and The Doctor became completely silent, then the noise happened loud enough for The Doctor to hear. It was a faint grinding, gliding sound, like metal on stone, a bit like someone was dragging an aluminium can across a kitchen worksurface. Then it stopped again. The Doctor went to take a step forward when it happened again, slightly louder, slightly closer. Whatever was making the sound was approching, slowly but steadily, gaining ground on The Doctor and his the source of the sound approached, The Doctor ran to the next archway and stood to the side of it where he would not be seen from any approaching being. Clara copied his actions, fearing the consequences of being spotted by what was making the noise. She felt that The Doctor knew exactly what would appear in the doorway - and she feared the happened for a while. The gliding noise occured periodically, the duo's eyes growing wider as the noise grew closer. It seemed to take forever but, eventually, the first sign of alien life appeared through the arch - the glowing blue light at the end of a Dalek eye Doctor quickly removed his jacket and tossed it over the Dalek's eye, hoping that it would disable the Dalek long enough for him and Clara to make an escape. But his plan failed. The Dalek almost immediately shook the jacket off with a twist of its dome.

'You are enemies of the Daleks!' called the Dalek, which was completely black with sky-blue globes on its body, 'you will be taken to the Supreme Dalek Court for trial and extermination!' The Doctor complied, picking his jacket up off of the ground and then gently grabbing Clara's arm to guide her in the direction that the Dalek had already started to go.  
'Excuse me, Mr Dalek,' The Doctor said, 'I have never seen a Dalek like you, all black with blue bumps, is that a new thing or...?'  
'You will be allowed to speak before the Supreme Dalek Court!' The Dalek interrupted. 'We have instructions not to allow you or your associates to engage in any mindbending tactics!'  
'I will do what I please!' Exclaimed The Doctor, raising his hands above his head in an exasperated expression. 'So, what sort of Dalek are you? I have seen silver Daleks with blue bumps, blue Daleks with black bumps, and even completely blue Daleks - and you are none of them!'  
'I am a Dalek officer!' Stated the black and blue Dalek. 'My roles include patrolling the decks of this ship and reporting abhorrent behaviour!'  
'So one of the low-ranking Daleks then; no autonomy, follower of your superiors...'  
'You are not to insult any member of the Dalek species!'  
'It comes naturally.'  
'Silence Timelord!' This phrase, said by the Dalek, came as a surprise to both Clara and The Doctor.  
'You recognise me?'  
'It would be foolish not to! All Daleks are informed of your exploits in the Great Time War!' The Doctor was astonished by The Dalek's choice in mentioning this event, rather than something more recent. He shrugged it off, deciding that it was a major point in his timeline, however, he wondered how significant it was to the Dalek.

Clara and The Doctor were escorted along a further few paths until they eventually reached a door that was similar to all the others, except it was rust-coloured and much larger, engraved with depictions of a devastating battle on a ringed planet beneath two moons. It was a scene that The Doctor knew well.

'The Supreme Dalek Court will see you now!'

The large copper doors parted gradually, creaking gently as they were prized apart. Another shiny black Dalek, almost identical to the officer, sat on the other side as if it were waiting. The only significant difference between the two Daleks was that this one had yellow bumps whereas the officer had blue ones. The most startling thing about this new Dalek, which neither The Doctor nor Clara noticed at first, was that there was a yellow light on its eyestalk, unlike the regular blue or white (although The Doctor had even seen a red one before). Neither of them had seen a Dalek like it.

'Doctor and Human companion, you will now be seen by the Supreme Dalek Court!' Screeched the Dalek with the yellow eye, swaying its eyestalk slightly as it spoke. 'Everything you say will be held against you!' The Dalek turned away from the door, allowing the first glimpse of the room ahead.

As Clara and The Doctor stepped into the room, they realised that it was much larger than they had first expected. It was a massive domed hall with honeycombed walls of pale orange lights. The roof of the dome was made completely of strong quantresin glass (the main export of planet Rigisu of the Ayhe'vac starsystem, made with a special purple sand that becomes unusually heavy when heated up) which showed the dusky green winds of the Melochite Belt. On further inspection, Clara suddenly realised that the hexagonal shapes on the walls were actually light-lined booths, each containing several Daleks. She estimated that there must have been thousands of Daleks lining the walls, watching over her and The Doctor as they was an elevated platform in the centre of the room. It was supported by pillars of pale blue light and had black ramps leading up to it. One half of the circular platform was lined with benches which the two timetravellers were guided towards. Although Clara was hesitant to sit down, The Doctor took his seat immediately, impatient for an authority figure to appear. He did not have to wait long.

The centre of the raised platform opened like the first flower petals of spring - slowly spiraling outwards - and a large orb that looked like a giant black marble rose from beneath. As soon as the orb had been removed from its hole, the gap in the platform snapped shut, startling orb hissed as the top half of it detached slightly, before fizzing into a puff of white smoke. Beneath the lid was a single Dalek with a pure white glossy casing and bumps that were more like pearls than metal balls. The light from this Dalek's eyestalk was as pure white as its Daleks in the booths around the room made a sound that was half gurgling, half buzzing, they had been anticipating the appearence of their leader even more than the Doctor had been - either that, or they were excited to find out what punishment the tresspassers would recieve.

'I am the Supreme Dalek of this ship!' Droned the white Dalek. 'You may speak before me in this court and I will decide your fate!' The Dalek was intimidating, but The Doctor had too many questions that needed answering.  
'How did you get here?' Asked The Doctor, jumping from his seat. 'What is the purpose of this mission? Why do The Daleks here look so different to all of the others that I have seen? What possible fates could we have other than the usual extermination - which never happens, by the way, you always use that threat but never follow through...'  
'Cease your rambling!' The Dalek cried, 'and I shall explain everything!'As The Doctor resumed his seat, the Dalek told its tale.

'This ship was sent to Gallifrey during the Great Time War!' The Dalek began, 'our mission was to gather samples of Gallifreyan lifeforms for analysis and experimentation! But when the war began to turn in favour of the Timelords - owing to your meddling behaviour - we fled so that our mission would succeed! We needed no more samples than we had! Our aim was to go to Taverin, the deserted gaseous galaxy on the far side of the Timnasphere, but due to minor computer malfunctions, we ended up stranded in the middle of the Melochite Belt! As this ship's main purpose was sciences and production, we had machinery that made us self sufficient! We could vastly improve on our species, but our main problem was that our ship's relative differentiator was broken, leaving us unable to escape the Belt!' The Dalek paused momentarily before adding one more comment. 'We have - however - been able to warp through time, scavenging parts and lifeforms from ships wrecked by these cosmic winds, using what we gather to fuel our experimentations! If we choose not to exterminate you, we will give you the chance to help us with our experiments - by donating yourselves to our cause!' The other Daleks jeered at the prospect of their leader's suggestion.

The Doctor took a few seconds to comprehend the meaning of what the Supreme Dalek had just told him, singling out one piece of information from the rest. He was full of hope but also full of fear and grief, if he understood correctly, there could be a larger threat than just ordinary Daleks, but he prayed that his worst thoughts were untrue. This gave him one final question to ask:

'You have been experimenting on Timelords?'

'Timelords are one of many species that we have done experimentation on!' Replied the Supreme Dalek in an arrogant manner.  
'So there are other Timelords on this ship?' Clara gasped, getting her hopes up only for them to be let down again  
'Our tests on the Timelords failed! The key to our evolution was lost!' The buzzing from the Daleks seated within the walls grew to an agitated noise, it was clear that they were devistated by this information. 'Lost until now!'  
'And you intend to use me to help create your new Dalek empire?'  
'The Bringer of Darkness will soon bring light to the Daleks! Take them to the cells!'

The Dalek officer that they had originally encountered was joined by another completely identical black and blue Dalek, the two of them glided around Clara and the Doctor, gently guiding their prisoners back out the way they came.

They were led down several corridors, only stopping to wait a few seconds at a door that turned out to be a large lift that took them to the lowest levels of the Dalek ship. The corridors down there split off and gave way to glistening white rooms, many of which were empty. Sometimes, The Doctor and Clara were past by Daleks rushing in the opposite direction; quite a few of these Daleks were blue, but most of the Daleks on this level had orange bumps and lights.

'So... It appears that these Daleks have specific ranks specified by colour - blue for officers, orange for scientists... What on Skaro might yellow be?' The Doctor pondered  
'I think I saw some red ones too,' added Clara  
'Well, who knows what they do? They probably just sit around eating cake... What do Daleks need all of these ranks for anyway? It is probably so that the Supreme Dalek can do nothing but chat all day and give all of the important jobs to the officers and stuff!'  
'Well, he did seem pretty talkative'  
'Exactly. Dalek hierachy exists only to aid their laziness'  
'Silence prisoners!' Interupted one of the Dalek officers 'we have reached the cells!'

The cells were bright compared to the dark corridors, and the walls were opalescent - Clara could only presume that they were made from huge mother of pearl main room was essentially an upended cylinder, there was a circular control desk in the centre where yet another Dalek officer sat monitoring screens that showed various corridors around the ship, and there was a ramp spiralling upwards along the single curved wall that encompassed the room. The prisoners were nudged up the ramp and into the first two cells along. The Daleks that had taken them there immediately left to resume their duties, leaving The Doctor and Clara with just one Dalek watching over them.

Although the walls of the cells were spotlessly clean, the furnishings told another story. Clara was appalled to see that the only items in her cell were a rough grey blanket, a tin cup, and a porcelain bowl that contained traces of a foul-smelling purple slime. She turned the bowl upside-down, straining herself not to breathe in the fumes as she stood on it, managing to reach a vent the size of a letterbox that led through to The Doctor's cell.

'Doctor, over here!' Whispered Clara in hope that the guard Dalek would not hear her  
'I'm right here,' said The Doctor, his eyes popping into view on the other side of the vent 'this must be the oldest part of the ship, doesn't look like they've used it in a while... And y'know, if these Daleks have been stuck here since the Time War, their equipment must be pretty outdated.' And with that, he dipped out of sight again, but from the faint buzzing static noise, Clara knew exactly what he was door of The Doctor's cell clunked as the locks came undone, but, before making his escape, The Doctor went back to the vent to converse with Clara once more.

'We have to watch out for that Dalek down there, I suggest that we go up the ramp instead of down. Won't expect that, will he?'  
'Sure thing, Doctor. But how will we get out once we are up there?'  
'There's bound to be some way out, we just have to find it. Also, you better keep close to the floor out there.' With that, The Doctor quickly slipped out of his cell, careful not to be spotted by the Dalek, and ducked down in front of Clara's cell.  
Within a few seconds, Clara was out and crouching beside The Doctor. The two of them crawled up the ramp, keeping as low as possible so that they would not be seen by the Dalek officer below.  
They were approximately half way from the top of the ramp when they noticed the box hanging from the ceiling. It was a large metal box that The Doctor recognised to be made of the same material that Dalek casings were forged from - Dalekanium.

One of the toughest materials in the known universe, Dalekanium could shield its contents against most projectiles, explosives, and lasers, making it obvious that whatever was inside that box was very important for it to be protected like that. However, the way that the box was chained to the ceiling made it seem a little unstable - but The Doctor supposed that this peculiar placement was so that it was difficult to reach, protecting it further.

Before The Doctor even considered investigating the box, they were spotted by the officer. Clara and The Doctor ran up the ramp as fast as they could when the ship's sirens sounded around them. At the top of the ramp, they were unsure of where to go, they realised that there were no exits to be seen other than a large bronze gate which they rushed over gate was locked. A group of Dalek officers was slowly levitating up the centre of the cylindrical room. There was nowhere to go. Then, just as the officers were reaching the level that they were on, the gate behind The Doctor and Clara suddenly opened and the two of them fell backwards into it.

Clara and The Doctor hurtled backwards down a steep slope, eventually landing in a pile of something unexpectedly soft.

'Are these pillows?' Asked Clara, opening her eyes to find herself in a dark space  
'Don't be ridiculous!' The Doctor answered 'why would there be pillows on a Dalek spaceship?'  
'Actually, they are pillows.' Confirmed an unidentified metallic voice from the shadows 'you do not know how much shuffling about it took to get them there, honestly. Well, whatever, I'm glad to see that you finally arrived.'  
The Doctor looked about for the source of the voice but could not see much in the darkness. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he sensed something move. He twisted his head slightly to the right and, indeed, he saw the faint glow of a small green light.  
'It is dark in here, isn't it?' The mysterious voice continued, 'I knew I was forgetting something. Light controls... Light controls... Ah!'

The room suddenly grew brighter, and The Doctor and his companion realised that they were in a room that looked quite unlike any other part of the ship. It was a small, cramped room with walls comprised of battered iron panels, and, of course, there were pillows scattered all over the floor. The green light, it turned out, was actually the eyestalk of a Dalek; this time it was a green one with gold bumps.

'I am Khi, by the way,' said the Dalek. Clara struggled to believe that it was the Dalek that was speaking because its tone of voice seemed much more subdued than the usual Dalek shout.  
'You're a Dalek?' Clara breathed, still unable to comprehend this unusual turn of events  
'Don't be rude, Clara, you yourself were a Dalek once.' The Doctor intervened  
'It is okay,' Khi muttered 'this is a relatively recent development for me too...'  
'Excuse me if this comes out as rude,' said The Doctor, 'but does that mean you are one of the Dalek experiments? We were told that they all failed.'  
'All of the experiments did fail; the aim was for all autonomy to be taken away from the, uh, subjects. I was the only one to survive the process, but they were unable to make me like them, well, except in appearence...'  
'So you are a Timelord?' Clara suggested,  
'I don't really know what I am, I can recall ships of all species being captured for experimentation, I could be anything. I have been here for quite a while though. That reminds me,' Khi's eyestalk turned to The Doctor, 'I am quite a fan of your work, I have read all about you on the database here. Fascinating. Absolutely fantastic work.' A deep rumble of vibrating metal could be heard above and the three of them looked upwards with startled expressions. 'Maybe we should get out of here.'

Khi turned and headed towards a small gap in the wall where on of the metal panels had been removed, or, at least, it was laying on the floor and appeared to have been bashed repeatedly until it had fallen down.  
'Come on, this way. It is perfectly safe, there is a duct under here, I use it to get around all of the time. Took me forever to break off all of the covers though.'

The Doctor, curious to understand the Dalek experiment, followed willingly, with Clara trailing behind. They were led a distance along the duct, often having to halt their journey so that they could clamber up sharp inclines, which Khi had not considered due to his ability to hover. There were many sharp turns, however, that posed a challenge to Khi, who struggled to rotate easily in the confined space and frequently scraped his Dalekanium body on the walls - still doing his best to ignore the inconvenience that this posed.

Either Clara's eyes had become used to the darkness of the tunnel, or it was getting lighter. Surely, she thought, we must be getting closer to the end. Still, they kept walking for quite a distance before they finally stopped.  
'I just need to open up the exit now,' explained Khi, before reversing slightly and proceeding to repeatedly ram himself into the wall in front of him. Clara flinched every time Khi collided with the metal plating, hoping that the Daleks could not hear the ruckus. The noise vibrated through the metal, surrounding the trio with the droning the panel fell off, creating an opening for them to get out of. It was much brighter in this area of the ship, yet it appeared to be very similar to all of the other corridors they had seen.

'This way,' Khi said, continuing to lead the way. The Doctor and Clara walked briskly along the corridor, trying to keep up with Khi, who seemed to be accelerating. They took a few turns, almost breaking into a run when Khi murmured something about them almost being at their destination.

They got there eventually but were struck by relief, disappointment, and panic as the same time. The relief was that the destination of their journey was the corridor where they had left the TARDIS. The panic and disappointment were both caused by the same thing: the TARDIS was being guarded by Daleks.

'Prisoners located!' yelled one of the officer Daleks, beginning to advance toward the trio. 'We must recapture them and return them to the cells!' It seemed that the escape had been worthless.

There were sirens blaring all around as The Doctor, Clara, and Khi were being rounded up by the Dalek officers. They knew that if they were taken back to the cells, the security around them would be as strong as it could be.  
The Doctor looked around, more Daleks were coming to assist the ones that had caught them - he counted seventeen in total - and he knew that there would be no escape. Daleks were tough, constantly evolving to cope with whatever threats they faced, making it difficult to even immobilise one. There was one way for sure to destroy the Daleks which one member of the team was able to employ, to use a Dalek gunstick against them.

Khi fired the weapon at one of the opposing Daleks. A beam of lime green light shot from his gunstick and the first Dalek spun out of control, smoke hissing from its casing. Khi fired again, mostly missing his targets and marking the walls of the large corridor. Clara and The Doctor knelt close to the ground to avoid being hit by the lasers, both blue and green were flying across the ship. One laser beam came startlingly close to the TARDIS, and The Doctor leapt forward, charging towards his trusty phonebox to make sure that she was okay, fearing getting seperated from The Doctor, quickly darted after him. Thankfully, the number of enemy Daleks had decreased, it seemed that there were only six remaining, but back-ups were arriving promptly. The Doctor tugged open the door of the TARDIS, hopping inside and trying to coax Clara to come along with him.

'We shouldn't leave Khi here,' said Clara, defying The Doctor's pleas for her to join him. 'He saved our lives! And perhaps we could cure him if we find out how to reverse the Dalek experiment!' The Doctor hesitated for a moment, wondering whether Clara's suggestion could be possible.  
'Alright, but if Khi is not on the ship in five minutes, we are leaving.'  
Clara turned to Khi, hoping that reinforcements would not come to replace the Dalek officers that he was destroying. For a brief moment, Khi turned his eyestalk to Clara before continuing his battle. Somehow, he looked scared despite the Dalekanium body.

There were three enemy Daleks left, two of which were missing their gunsticks, and the other was spinning and giving off sparks from its eyestalk. Khi decided that it was his best chance to get to the TARDIS and abscond from the metallic nightmare that he saw the ship was about a metre from the TARDIS when more Daleks made an appearance, silently gliding around a corner. There were about five Dalek officers trailing after a yellow Dalek that was directing its subordinates to recapture the escapees.  
'Experiment sixty-three is escaping!' Yelled the yellow Dalek, advancing towards the TARDIS and the three former prisoners. 'We must recapture the experiment!'  
The Daleks pursued the trio, gliding slowly. They were too slow. Khi soon made it inside the TARDIS as Clara lunged past him to close the door.

'Where to now?' Asked The Doctor, prancing around the console of his time machine and thinking of all of the possible times and places that they could end up in.  
'Anywhere but here.' Clara replied, to which Khi murmured a positive, yet urgent, response.

The golden central column of the TARDIS console began to pulsate as a familiar groaning noise encompassed them. Symbols in an endangered language swirled above the heads of the travellers as they dematerialised from the Dalek ship and continued their journey through space; heading off to a new, unknown destination.

The TARDIS was floating in the middle of space, slowly drifting away from danger. The two inhabitants of the TARDIS with the ability to breathe were beginning to regain their breath after a close encounter, whilst the non-breathing member of the trio was spinning aimlessly with relief. All was silent except for the comforting whir of the TARDIS that encompassed them like a warm blanket of familiarity.  
'Well,' The Doctor began, readying himself at the TARDIS console, 'have you decided where we are going yet? Past? Present? Future? How about a planet where blue raspberries are a real thing?'  
'As long as it's safe,' replied Clara, watching Khi with a slight smile as he rolled directly into the console, not noticing how he had accidentally nudged a lever on impact. Luckily, The Doctor noticed this and quickly rectified it before any damage could be done.  
'I'm not even sure what that does, probably just a microwave in one of the smaller kitchens... Still, best not to touch it.' He turned back to the console. 'How about we go then?


End file.
